It's a time-honored tradition: the company retreat. But when that conjures the specter of Ramada Inn basements and conference rooms and three-hour presentation blocks, it's clear that an update is in order. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans strategize the most efficient and effective ways to reconnect and recharge with your organizations, as well as ways we might go about planning company retreats in the new age of remote work.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

The workplace is a wealth of knowledge. Each member of an organization is a master in their own specialized field, and in the 21st-century workplace, we're often exchanging knowledge, teaching and learning by equal measure. But in a future where self-management is key, how do we ensure this is done in a healthy way?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to cultivate mastery in a world of knowledge workers.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Leaders in the workplace often talk about experimenting within the existing structures. But in the excitement and flurry of change, we often forget the goal of experimentation: to make it a real learning practice.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to plan, structure, and assess change experiments with the right intentions, and for the best outcomes.

Read the article based on this episode here.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

It's one thing to talk about what we'd like the future of work to look like—but what about the people who'll actually make up that workforce? Wha do they want out of their work, and how do they want to shape their organizations?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk to lecturer Todd Jick at the Columbia Business School about his class on Advanced Organizational Change, and what his students want to see for the future of work.

Learn more about Todd on LinkedIn and his Columbia staff profile.

Learn more about the Columbia Business School on their website.

Mentioned references:

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

There's a thing that often happens when we try to add complexity our systems: in an effort to implement procedure and reduce "risk," we often massively overcomplicate the system at its core. It seems the more we try to distance ourselves from the humans working in our systems, the more we ruin what made the systems work well in the first place.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how to solve our systems problems at the root, and how reducing inefficiency can't be entirely divorced from people.

Mentioned references:

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

If there's one structure in the modern workplace that feels particularly resistant to change, it's the hiring process. For years, we've followed the same basic structure: whittle down vast pools of potential, qualified candidates down to one lucky winner. But as we consider adapting our workplaces for the future, we might consider tools to reinvent the way we hire, and thus, the way we fill out our organizations for the future.

In this episode, we talk to Kelsa Summer Roidt, Chief Operating and Impact Officer at Habitus, Inc., about her particularly inspiring hiring practices.

Learn more about Kelsa on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Habitus and what they're up to at their website.

Mentioned references:

Other BNW episodes about hiring practices:

• BNW Ep. 14 with Kate Glazebrook

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

You’ll often hear us talking about collectivism, balance, and sustainability on this show—to the point that you may well wonder, do these socialists even care about growth and profit?

We do. But not in the unchecked way that has become normal in the last half century. In this episode, we let our entrepreneurial ambition out to discuss the moral case for sustainable, humane growth, and explore why the discussion around this topic gets so politically charged.

Mentioned references:

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

It's been quite a week for the United States of America. And as Americans, we tried to do what we always do: keep working.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss the volatile, unprecedented political situation we now find ourselves in, as well as ways to take a step back and recognize that some things might just be more important than business as usual.

Mentioned References:

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

It's the end of the year! And for many of us, that also means the return of the dreaded performance review. As we strive to make our workplaces and organizations more human, how can we reinvent this outdated tradition into something... actually useful?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans discuss how the standard performance management cycle fails both managers and employees, and how we can work toward a better future for feedback.

Mentioned references:

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Interesting in working at The Ready? View open positions here.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

When we begin to reckon with inequality in the workplace, a useful place to start is the concept of "epistemic injustice"—what we know, how we know, and who gets to decide and influence our reality. This concept goes deeper than simply who is in the room. This is about the stories we bring with us, the ones we build together, and how bias and representation shape the possibility of what can be.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans speak with Cat Swetel, a consultant specializing in data-informed coaching and increasing equity in organizations, about epistemic injustice—in the workplace and beyond.

Learn more about Cat on her website, on LinkedIn, and on Twitter.

Mentioned references:

Our book is available at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com